Most of my friends and family keep wondering why I deliberately ruin my photos shooting in Black and White. After all, the real world is in color. And the pictures I used to take were in color, and beautiful. Why change?
Read MoreThird day of my trip in Oregon. This time I drive to Wasco County and the Cottonwood Canyon in the high desert, stopping first by some spots in the Columbia Gorge like the Vista House and Multnomah Falls.
Read MoreCamera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 80mm f/2.8
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Ilfotec HC
After three days trying to make this image but not being able to figure out where from, I finally found the perfect place. I headed to North Avenue Beach well before sunrise on my last morning in the city, and took a couple of long exposures.
Camera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 150mm f/4
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Ilfotec HC
Road through the Owens Valley as seen from Whitney Portal at sunset. In the background, the Inyo Mountains.
This was my second visit to Death Valley in 2017, and the second time I didn't get to do as much as I wanted to do there.
Read MoreLuna and I walking on a frozen Trillium Lake, in Oregon.
Yesterday, I found myself thinking about an essay from *"Why people photograph"* by Robert Adams. The piece was about Paul Strand and how, according to Adams, he never achieved the excellence he showed previously after he moved to France, where he lived for more than 25 years.
Read MoreSecond episode of this series, where I go back to Oregon and visit some of my favorite spots.
This time, I go to the coast: Cannon Beach, Manzanita, Fort Stevens State Park and Astoria.
Read MoreCamera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 250mm f/5.6 + Zenzanon PS 2x Teleconverter
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Ilfotec HC
I'd been considering getting rid of either the 250mm lens or the 2x teleconverter to simplify my camera kit a little bit.
However, I got to use both -at the same time- very recently. I made a few images of a power plan in Michigan City from the nearby Indiana Dunes, and the combination of the long lens plus the teleconverter (500mm, or 275mm in full frame equivalent) proved to be very useful. I wouldn't be able to catpure it without them.
So I'm back to the drawing board and considering keeping both for situations like this, where I definitely need that focal length.
There, I said it. Social media isn't the source of our problems, but rather a reflection or amplification of them.
Read MoreToday's video is a bit different. And rather long. I go through two rolls of film from my recent trip to Oregon and edit the 24 shots in Lightroom.
Read MoreCamera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 80mm f/2.8
Film stock: Ilford Pan F
Exposure: 50
Developer: Ilfotec HC
Another exposure of a sand dune in Death Valley National Park.
I like to play with wide apertures when making images of scenes like this one. The wind on the top of the dune and a relatively slow shutter speed helped to create this effect of a soft dune on the bottom and top.
The shadow on the right splits the frame as well.
It's also a frame from one of the two rolls of Pan F I exposed during the road trip. I should use it more often since it's a film stock I enjoy exposing.
First video of my short trip to Oregon a few weeks ago. I was too tired to do much after several hours of travel, but I still managed to do a quick trip to the Columbia River Gorge and visit a waterfall.
Read MoreCamera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 150mm f/4
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Ilfotec HC
Watch the video where I made this image: "Shooting film: The last of winter".
I'd been waiting for a day like this the whole winter. As I said before, landscape photography is all about the conditions. I couldn't dream of better conditions for photography than the ones I had this day.
It was a foggy day, and I decided to head north to Michigan City where I intended to photograph Lake Michigan. On my way there, I stopped by multiple spots trying to make the most of that incredible weather.
One of these stops was a park outside the city, a place I spotted on Google Maps when I was approaching my final destination. I gave it a try, and I found "photography heaven".
A foggy, snowy, and calm park with beautiful trees. No one around. Mostly clean snow, with not many footprints. Incredible light. It wasn't even that cold.
I spent an hour in that tiny park. I shot almost two rolls. So worth it.
This is a quick tip for those who, like me, can't wait to see the images on that negative we just developed.
Once you've seen a few negatives, you get a good understanding of how the photo will look, but there's nothing like seeing the positive version of the image.
I use my phone to get a quick sneak peek, this is how I do it.
Read MoreWinter is over here in the Midwest. Sure, it's still cold (it went down to 20F this last night), but the white and snowy landscapes are gone for good, I'm afraid.
In this video, I drove to Michigan City at the shore of Lake Michigan in an attempt to capture the last of winter. I found heavenly conditions for photography and I made some of my favorite images here.
Read More
Camera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 150mm f/4
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Ilfotec HC
I've been working hard on developing, scanning and editing the photos from my recent trip to Oregon. I still have a few rolls left, but I'm happy with the results I've seen so far.
This exposure was taken from the parking lot of the Multnomah Falls. Not only because you can't really get much closer due to a wildfire this past summer, but also because I really think this is the best spot to photograph the falls.
It was from there where I took the long exposure of the falls at night that you can see in the archives.
Camera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 150mm f/4
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Ilfotec HC
I've already talked about Point Lobos and the Sutro Baths here before. This is another exposure I took there in the early morning of some old stairs that led to the ocean.
The faster, the better. Or so it seems these days.
A few days ago, I was struck by a photographer telling people that in order to learn they should go out every day and shoot as much as they can. Then, they'd have to go through those few hundred photos before the day is over and select 1 or 2. Next day, repeat.
What this photographer seems to be missing is that photography is much more than taking a picture.
Read MoreIn this episode of the American Road Trip, I visit one of the most beautiful places I've seen in the US: the Alabama Hills.
Read MoreCamera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 50mm f/3.5
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Ilfotec HC
It was as cold as it looks. Freezing.
It isn't easy to walk here. Your feet keep slipping through the hundreds of balls of ice that are all over the place. Sometimes you fall through as deep as your knee, and it hurts.
I'd never been here before, so I don't know what this place looks like without the snow and ice. Am I walking on the beach still? Or is there a lake under me?
Regardless, this is my absolute favorite place to shoot in Northern Indiana / Michiana. I'm planning on going back there once more before the spring gets here, and check how much of this frozen land is still there.
